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February 4, 2009

Christian Extremists Support School Bullying

It must be difficult to be a Christian extremist parent in 2009. First, those pesky public schools actually want to educate your children in science so they'll be able to compete in an increasingly complex job market. Second, some dare to teach method of sex education which have been shown to be...(gasp)...effective, instead of simply preaching "don't do it." And now, some schools have the nerve to realize that bullying detracts from the learning conducive environment they are trying to foster. What is a good Christian extremist parent to do? Oppose measures to reduce bullying, of course.Evidently, last week's No Name-Calling Week was too much for some Christian extremist parents to swallow. Homosecular Gaytheist brings us the story of Linda Harvey from Mission America who is upset over efforts to reduce school bullying. The source of Ms. Harvey's displeasure is that reducing bullying interferes with the fundamental right of Christian children to spread anti-gay hatred and bigotry at their schools. You see, in Ms. Harvey's world, refraining from hurling homophobic insults at one's peers amounts to condoning the dreaded homosexual lifestyle.

Over at Friendly Atheist, Hemant shows us that Ms. Harvey has some company among the Christian extremist ranks. He brings us the story of Christian attorney, Brad Dacus, who echoes Ms. Harvey's fears about anti-bullying measures. In fact, Mr. Dacus is convinced that children prevented from bullying one another just might grow up tolerant. The horror!

They're promoting, all the way down to the first-grade level, children to read and be exposed to books and material that is pro-homosexual -- and it's all under the guise of opposing name-calling.

The truly mind-blowing part of this is that both Ms. Harvey and Mr. Dacus believe that by trying to reduce anti-gay bigotry, the schools are actually denigrating their religion. According to Dacus:

The alleged homosexual kids are not the only ones being bullied. There's [sic] kids of faith being called 'homophobic' and 'homophobe,' and yet those words and that name-calling is not under attack and is not being addressed by this alleged week of tolerance that's being pushed.

By labeling intolerance as intolerant, the schools are opposing Dacus and Harvey's brand of hate-based Christianity. Where is the outrage from Christians who do not want their religion equated with hatred and bigotry?